Happy Fall!

It's fall! To celebrate the first day of fall, my daughter and I visited a local apple farm and got donuts and cider. Yum.

Also on the same day, our butterfly emerged from its chrysalis. Our pastor's wife gave us a caterpillar and the next day it became a chrysalis, and then we waited! And this happened:

God is so amazing! To think that a lowly caterpillar could become a butterfly is mind-boggling!

The weather here has been so lovely. It has been warm in the afternoons, though there is a slight chill in the wind to remind us that fall is indeed here! This evening we spent some time as a family walking and enjoying the weather.

Hope your fall is fabulous! :-)

52 Projects (Project 20)

Say, I do believe I'm a little behind in projects. Does canning count as a project? No? How about homeschooling? No? (That's taking more time than any other "project" I've undertaken so far.)

Painted Acorns

One of my sisters sent me this link and I thought it looked simple and fun. One day, after a very long and hard school day (this post is encouraging for those hard days!), we needed to push "reset". I took my daughter to a park and we wandered around in the warm sun collecting acorns. We each had our own bag. When we came home I baked them at 170*F (as the link recommends) and then my daughter painted hers.

It's been almost a week now and I just got around to painting mine yesterday afternoon. I chose acrylic paints from my paint box that I've purchased for various reasons over the years, so this project cost nothing out of pocket!

Scavenged acorns: free!

Paint: on hand (so: free!)

I did buy a glass candle holder at the dollar store but I plan on using that for candles and other decorations year-round, not just for acorns. That was $1 but I'm not counting that as part of the cost of the project.

Cost: $0
Running Total: $51.05

Edit: After a few weeks, the acorns were covered with mold. I'm thinking it was because I baked them but I'm not really sure. 

September Past, September Now

Today I was reading through my blog, looking back at all the September archives. Some things change as the years go by and some stay the same.

September, 2014: sharing about canning and homeschooling

the shelves Kevin built last year

September, 2013: sharing about pansies and homeschooling (that reminds me, I should plant pansies again!)

September, 2012: a chattier month, but boiling it down I'm still talking about educating my daughter (though she hadn't started school yet), gardening and canning.

some of the sweet potatoes we grew that year

And this year? Well...the garden is slowing coming to an end. I panicked and bought tomatoes so I'd have enough for everything I still wanted to make. Our garden did relatively well this year but we had a few less plants than last year. And we're getting into the swing of school. This year I'm determined to be scheduled in the mornings. So far (1 + week in) it's working.

On Monday we were together with friends for Labor Day. They have a baby so I got lots of baby snuggles in, and in the process was adorned with drool, spit-up, and pee. I forgot how very liquid babies are, you know? I loved every minute of it, though I did hand him off to be changed when I got wet on. ;-)

With that, I'll leave you with this picture thought:

This is what life feels like right now, back and forth, back and forth! Wind in my hair, it feels like I'm really moving and going somewhere. I'm busy-busy-busy. But in looking back? Life is pretty much the same as it has been for a while. That's not bad, rhythm is good! And with the back and forth, the sameness of the months as they pass through, progress and growth are happening.